The Register's Editorial: It's time to weed out unneeded job licenses

Aug. 18, 2013

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The Register’s Editorial

Iowa requires physicians to obtain a state license to practice medicine. That makes sense. Patients want to know the people they entrust with their lives have met some basic educational and training standards. It is right to have a state licensing board with the authority to act when consumers have serious complaints.

Some licensing requirements are necessary to protect public health and safety. Others are not. As The Des Moines Register’s editorial board has written, it is difficult to understand how the public’s health and safety would be put at risk if the state didn’t require a license for travel agents or funeral homes or barbers. If an African-American woman wants to braid hair, why does Iowa force her to spend 2,100 hours at a cosmetology school that may not even teach braiding?

There are 34 licensing boards overseeing more than 100,000 Iowans in dozens of professions. Some were created decades ago, imposing onerous new requirements on those seeking to enter a profession while exempting current workers. Made up mostly of industry insiders, some boards have imposed ridiculous continuing-education requirements on workers who provide a steady stream of customers to those providing the education. Rather than protecting consumers, some boards seem more interested in limiting competition.

Gov. Terry Branstad knows this. “The state has reasons to license people, to protect the health, safety and well-being of its citizens,” he said during a meeting with Register reporters and editors last week. “The problem is, you have all these groups that want to be licensed and they use that as the excuse, but what they really want is to protect the people who are already in [the profession] and keep other people out.”

The governor deserves credit for vetoing legislation in April that would have required licenses for substance abuse counselors. But what about all the existing licenses that aren’t necessary? How will Iowa get rid of those? It’s going to take elected officials finding political courage to go against the lobbying by people who already hold those licenses.

With the Iowa Legislature not in session until January, the Register editorial board has suggested that Branstad create an advisory commission charged with taking a fresh look at each of Iowa’s licensing boards. The commission should include experts to evaluate the effect of licensing on the economy and on public health and safety. The commission should make recommendations to the Legislature about which licenses and training requirements are not necessary to protect the public and which ones are needed.

The governor seems receptive to this idea after meeting with a representative from the Institute for Justice, a civil liberties interest group that is pushing for job licensing reform nationwide. Branstad said he was shocked to find out how much licensing drives up costs for the public.

The governor said he is awaiting a report from the institute before moving forward in Iowa. “I want to make sure we’ve got all the facts,” Branstad said.

There is no coming report that is unique to Iowa, said Lee McGrath, the institute’s legislative counsel. Branstad was referring to an update of an existing report on licensing requirements in all 50 states. The last report ranked Iowa 46th for the “most burdensome licensing laws.” Only six states license more occupations than Iowa.

Instead of waiting for another report reminding everyone that Iowa has a licensing problem, the governor should move forward with creating a commission to undertake a thorough study of jobs and licenses. Then he should work with lawmakers from both parties to craft legislation to address the most troubling requirements, including those imposed on beauty industry workers.